Unexpected depth/seriousness in “light” fare

[FredH]

Ever run into this sort of thing, where you’re watching some usually not-very-serious material, and suddenly it just hits you with something?

For example, I used to watch Syfy’s Sanctuary, a fun pulpy series about investigating, hunting and protecting cryptids, usually without a thought in its head. And then one day circumstances lead to one of the characters confronting the local police chief (of a fictional city, but set in the modern day) along the lines of “What are we becoming, a police state?” And the chief looks at him and tells him, “You always lived in a police state. You just never noticed.”

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Reminded me of this which I saw again yesterday:

Edit: The Everybody Loves Raymond episodes "Robert's Rodeo" , "Golf For It", and "The Finale" - Ray sees just how bad Robert's bull gore wound actually was, Ray and Robert realize that someday their parents will die, and when everyone realizes Ray could have died on the operating table, respectively. They do love each other, even if it's dysfunctional a lot of the time.

 

[Starkers]

It's safe to say that Moonraker is perhaps the most preposterous Bond film of all time, for a lightweight, comedic film it contains some scenes that feel like they came out of a horror film!

The scene where Corinne Dufour is chased by dogs through the forest feels like it's lifted from a film like The Omen.

There's also the scene where Manuela is menaced by Jaws whose wearing a giant carnival head and rather than funny it's genuinely a little unsettling!

 

[Captaindemotion]

The Orville immediately comes to mind for me. Started off as a Star Trek pastiche/spoof/ rip-off but suddenly began handling the sort of moral dramas and dilemmas that classic ST did so well. And handled them superbly IMHO.

 

[The Realist]

I’ve been watching a lot of Ultraman series lately, which I imagine many would consider “light” fare — though that may be mostly people who haven’t really watched them, or who only remember the original 1960s Ultraman from when they were kids. But some of the episodes are surprisingly emotional and/or dramatic. In particular, Ultraman Max has a really beautiful and artful episode titled “Miracle of the Third Planet,” directed by Takashi Miike before he was TAKASHI MIIKE. It’s by turns heartbreaking and breathtaking.

Ultraman Tiga has a romantic thread woven through it that gains serious emotional resonance by the end of the series, at least for me. And then there’s Ultraman Nexus, which announces its more serious and adult intent from the start, going darker than you would ever have expected from the franchise up to that point (and mostly since).

 

[Mike Farley]

Just about any Norman Lear sit-com could go from roll-on-the-floor laughing to dead serious at the drop of a hat.

 

[vandevere]

Just about any Norman Lear sit-com could go from roll-on-the-floor laughing to dead serious at the drop of a hat.

I remember one "All in the Family" Episode where Archie was remembering his own Father. Apparently Archie's Dad was an abusive-physical-SOB.

Archie could be a son of a cuss at times, but he wasn't abusive...

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

If anyone's seen 1966's THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, this fits the bill. Despite its continuous comedy, every scene is just one percent more serious than the last........and once you reach Scene , just when you can't bear the mounting tension, it goes one terrifying step further when the church. RUSSIANS got a well-deserved Best Picture nomination for it. I call it the dramedy to beat them all.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I remember one "All in the Family" Episode where Archie was remembering his own Father. Apparently Archie's Dad was an abusive-physical-SOB.

Archie could be a son of a cuss at times, but he wasn't abusive...

Not physically. Emotionally. Verbally.

 

[fireproof78]

Night Court does this extremely well. My wife and I just watched one of the most heart wrenching scenes with a judge who is losing his mind over the fact that he couldn't stop a man from physically abusing his wife because the moment there was the possibility of jail time she would change her testimony.

"There was this girl, seventeen, beautiful girl; dark complexion; dark hair; and a WELT under her eye where her husband had hit her. She was pregnant for the THIRD time, I think, and the DA said they lived in a rat infested place on the lower East Side. She said she wanted her husband to stop hitting her, and as soon I indicated that I'd send him to jail, ZIP, she changed her testimony, said she was lying. She didn't want her husband to go to jail. He brought home MONEY so the family could eat. All she wanted was for HIM to stop HITTING HER, well Harry, I can't make him stop, in twenty-five years I never made ANYBODY stop.
[He wanders around his chamber]"

The weight of his burden is intense because a moment ago he was quoting the Three Stooges and then he's unraveling his frustration at the lack of truth in the Justice system.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

There was an episode of Robotech where Roy Fokker and the Skull Squadron fight off another Zentradi attack and everyone is celebrating and Roy goes to visit his girlfriend Claudia Grant and in the middle of the conversation, keels over dead, with a growing bloodstain on the back of his jacket, having been shot by the Zentradi during a dogfight. That kinda let the audience know that anyone was a target and wouldn't make it out of the series alive.

 

[Gaith]

Smallville's "Memoria" (3x19) springs to mind. Via flashbacks, we learn that when Lex Luthor was a child, his mother, afflicted with post-partum depression, murdered her baby son/Lex's brother, and Lex, fearing Lionel would murder her for it, took the blame by saying that he'd accidentally killed the baby. This saves Lex's mother's life, but she remains miserable and dies young, and Lionel, who never quite forgave Lex, wasn't able to give him the love he needed and deserved, thus setting him on a dark and murderous path.

This is from a silly show about future Superman fighting random Kryptonite-powered thugs and wondering if his crush would smooch him if she knew he was an alien.

(Oh, and bonus irony, Clark, who doesn't hear this story, never confided in Lex when they were friends because he didn't think Lex could be trusted with a serious secret.)

 

[JD]

I'm a huge fan of Eureka and Warehouse 13 and I thought they were both very good at this kind of thing. And on the non sci-fi front, Monk and Pysch were good at this too, most of the stuff that was on the Universal networks, mainly USA and Syfy, in the '00s and early '10s fit this bill.
I also just watched Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom for the first time this morning, and it was mostly goofy fun, but then there were a few scenes, especially towards the end, where things got a bit more emotional.

 

[FPAlpha]

Back when Roseanne was actually good ( and she wasn't yet a nutcase) the storyline about Jackie's violently abusive boyfriend hit hard.

Yes, they sprinkled some humor in it but this one was rough as hell and Laurie Metcalf hit it out of the park actingwise.

Roseanne had a few real moments but none came as close as this to show some brutal realities in our actual lives.

( i know it's not Sci Fi, i don't care )

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I remember one "All in the Family" Episode where Archie was remembering his own Father. Apparently Archie's Dad was an abusive-physical-SOB.

I did not know that.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Back when Roseanne was actually good ( and she wasn't yet a nutcase) the storyline about Jackie's violently abusive boyfriend hit hard.

Yes, they sprinkled some humor in it but this one was rough as hell and Laurie Metcalf hit it out of the park actingwise.

Roseanne had a few real moments but none came as close as this to show some brutal realities in our actual lives.

( i know it's not Sci Fi, i don't care )

In that same vein - I really didn't care for How I Met Your Mother, but the episode where Lily tells Marshall that his father has died.
Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigen really hit that one out of the park.

 

[vandevere]

Not physically. Emotionally. Verbally.

Thank you for clarifying. I only saw it once, over forty years ago...

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Thank you for clarifying. I only saw it once, over forty years ago...

Fortunately for Edith, who gets at least 55 percent of the abuse, washes it right off her back.

 

[Commander Troi]

I've noticed that many of SyFy's "light" shows have the ability to do this. Resident Alien makes me laugh my ass off, but Harry's observations of humanity also often hit very close to home.

 

[matthunter]

Fortunately foo Edith, who gets at least 55 percent of the abuse, washes it right off her back.

But then there's the ep where someone tries to rape her.